sports

What is the essence of a skateboard? It seems that some people, for some reason, under the inspiration of some muse or other substance, asked this deep philosophical question. And, luckily or unluckily for us, they actually came up with the answer: two wheels. After all, one can't go anywhere with just a board and no wheels (unless it's a hoverboard). But can you really get around with just two? Apparently yes, but not without skill, learning, and perhaps a few bruises, as the Post Modern Skateboard demonstrates.

After watches and fitness bands (and bras), smartness might soon be coming even to footwear. That is certainly the proposition that Chinese athletic shoes and sporting goods maker Li Ning is trying to make when it revealed that "smart" running shoes will soon be the talk of the running community, at least in China. It won't be doing it all by itself however. For this quest, it has enlisted the help of Huami Technology, which is part of the Xiaomi family and is responsible for the latter's own Mi fitness bands.

The fastest growing sporting environment today is - unequivocally - video games. It's a segment called "eSports", and the folks at theScore are aiming to bring a one-stop-shop for following the biggest and the best games in the world to mobile devices. Recently launched on Android and launched on iOS just this week, "theScore eSports" is an app that's aiming to bring all eSports scores, data, and connections to live feeds to your fingertips. Have a peek at the app here and listen in as its creators speak on the future.

Snapchat has been rolling out different features over the months, and though it can't seen to do so without some sort of issue cropping up, that hasn't stopped it yet. According to new sources that have cropped up, the disappearing-selfie service is looking to bring live sports broadcasting to its sharing platform, and it will be kicking it off (assuming that all goes as planned) with the NCAA Final Four. Neither Snapchat nor others have confirmed the rumor at this time.

Blizzard Entertainment has announced its new "Heroes of the Dorm" tournament for, you guessed it, college students. These students will be battling for a litany of prizes, the best ones probably being the funds for tuition (in excess of $450,000 is up for grabs). While it's a fun shot for college students to get a leg up in their college (and perhaps gaming) career, it's a big milestone for eSports in general: for the first time ever, ESPN will be offering live televised coverage of an eSports event.

Late last month, the virtual reality specialists at NextVR successfully tested out transmission of an NHL game with Live VR. This means that no matter where you are - just so long as you have an internet connection - you'll be able to watch the game. Not just from whatever perspective the standard camera wishes you to view - but from the perspective of someone who's down in a front-row seat. This week we had a chat with the co-founders of NextVR about how they made headway at a 2015 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series LA Kings vs. San Jose Sharks Game.

As expected, HTC now has a wearable. The company has long been complimentary of wearables, and vowed long ago to have one for us at some point. With the Grip, HTC hopes to get a grip on the wearable market, and tough it has a display — the Grip is more fitness wearable than smartwatch. It also makes good on HTC’s partnership with Under Armour, and when we consider other moves Under Armour has made, could make this wearable a go-to for fitness buffs.

NASCAR. That’s just over-powered cars going in a circle for hours, right? As the Daytona 500 reaches its horsepower-heavy crescendo today, it’s the iconic racetrack, the Daytona International Speedway, which is sharing a little more of the spotlight than usual. Coaxing fans out from their living rooms and the surfeit of entertainment options there isn’t a unique problem in sports, but it’s one that sponsor-dependent NASCAR faces more than most. The answer is Daytona Rising, an ambitious program designed not only to renovate the grandstand but to turn the historic track into what Joie Chitwood, President of the Speedway, describes as “the first and only motorsports stadium.” I headed out to Florida to find out how new tech is bringing the race experience up to speed.

How do you go about getting some attention if you’re Floyd Mayweather? A nickname like ‘Money’ doesn’t hurt, especially after you shed the ‘Pretty Boy’ moniker. Talking about the cash you earn on social media doesn’t hurt, either (we're definitely jealous). Having your own social platform in Shots — yeah, that’s a solid method, too. Finally facing the one fighter fans and pundits think you should before retirement is also a solid way to grab headlines. Breaking news of that fight on Shots? Brilliant.

Back a few weeks ago, HTC launched (publicly) their HTC Esports initiative. They're sponsoring Esports teams now, and they're being fairly open about it. Not that it was a secret, but given their relative lack of hard-and-fast connections (hardware) to the gaming universe, it's not immediately apparent why HTC would be doing such a thing. Today, HTC released a video by the by the name of "Rebirth: What Is Esports." Sounds like a bit of a play on the name of the camera HTC Re, doesn't it?